The Citadel of Chaos (book)
:For other uses of '''The Citadel of Chaos', see'' The Citadel of Chaos The Citadel of Chaos is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Russ Nicholson and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002 and 2009, and again in 2017 by Scholastic Books with new illustrations by Vlado Krizan. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the second in the series in the Puffin (ISBN 0-14-031603-5) and both Wizard (ISBN 1-84046-389-9) (ISBN 1-84831-076-5) series, and 3rd in the Scholastic series (ISBN 1-40718-125-4). Creation History - Back Cover ("Dragon" Edition)}} The book is, like its predecessor ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, set in the fictional world of Titan in the Allansia region. The Evil warlord Balthus Dire who has ruled from his Black Tower high upon Craggen Rock for the past eight years is now agitating to expand his sphere of influence, beginning with the nearby Vale of Willow. Word is sent to the Great Forest of Yore and the wizard who lives there of the problem and the player, the star pupil of this wizard is dispatched to the Vale where King Salamon charges the player with penetrating the forbidding citadel and defeating Dire. Along the way the player is forced to use both sword and magic to overcome a number of obstacles including the Ganjees and a Hydra. How to Fight Creatures Within the Citadel/Using Magic/Magic Spells/Equipment *The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). *In the Wizard "Series 2" edition, instead of rolling the stats for a character as per tradition in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, the player has the option of choosing a pregenerated character from three choices (see "Further Notes" below for choices). Unique Rules *In addition to the standard rules, The Citadel of Chaos makes use of a new attribute: magic. - pg.14 This was a simple 2d6 roll with the addition of 6 to the number rolled which determined the "number" of spells the reader begins with. The spells were chosen from a pool of twelve spells, which were: Creature Copy, E.S.P., Fire, Fool's Gold, Illusion, Levitation, luck, Shielding, skill, stamina, Strength, and Weakness. *Due to the ability to use spells to restore the values of the three standard attributes, the player does not begin this adventure with either Provisions or Potions. Equipment List - pg.19 *Sword *Leather Armour *Backpack *Lantern Cover and Illustrations Covers During the time that Puffin was publishing the Fighting Fantasy books, The Citadel of Chaos had two covers. The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Emmanuel which was eventually replaced by one by Ian Miller. Of note, when the book transitioned to the Dragon Cover Format the style of writing for the title changed, but only on the cover. On the inside title page the font remained that of the earlier printings. When the book was republished by Wizard in 2002 a new cover was designed and illustrated by Kevin Jenkins. Their 2010 edition makes use of a section of the previous edition's cover art. The 2017 edition featured a new cover by Robert M. Ball. Illustrations Puffin/Wizard Editions The interior illustrations were by Russ Nicholson. There were 30 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 13, 25, 40, 52, 64, 79, 90, 118, 144, 156, 169, 182, 196, 210, 222, 234, 245, 257, 269, 281, 292, 304, 316, 328, 339, 352, 362, 374 and 386. The full-page illustrations in the book were accompanied with a caption giving the number of the paragraph depicted and a short extract from the text, a format which was only used in two other books, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and The Forest of Doom. Scholastic Edition The interior illustrations were by Vlado Krizan. There were 20 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 13, 40, 64, 118, 144, 156, 182, 210, 222, 234, 245, 257, 304, 316, 328, 339, 352, 362, and 374. The full-page illustrations in the book were accompanied with a caption giving a short extract from the text. The map was by Leo Hartas. Intertextual References The main villain of the book, Balthus Dire, also appeared in the novel The Trolltooth Wars by Steve Jackson and the character is a contemporary of Zagor (from The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) and Zharradan Marr (from Creature of Havoc). Other Media Computer Games Videogame versions of the book were released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. An iOS conversion of the book was produced by Big Blue Bubble and released in 2010. An iPhone game based on the gamebook was produced by Derp Studios and released in 2012. e-Book A Kindle adaptation of the book was produced by Worldweaver Ltd and released in 2011. Main Characters YOU: Hero of The Citadel of Chaos *Balthus Dire *Grand Wizard of Yore *King Salamon *O'Seamus - Leprechaun Locations *Black Tower aka Citadel of Chaos *Citadel Kitchens *Craggen Rock *Great Forest of Yore *Vale of Willow Encounters *Ape-Dog *Balthus Dire *Black Elf *Calacorm *Clawbeast *Dog-Ape *Dwarf *Gargoyle *Gark *Goblin *Golem *Hydra *Humans - Short/Tall *Orc *Rhino-Man *Sewer Snake *Spider-Man *Wheelies Further Notes *19 instant failures, 1 victory, plus failure by inadequate inventory, insufficient spells or loss of stamina points. *This gamebook has been deemed by many fans to be one of the few Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, if not the only one, that offers a fair chance of completing the book with the weakest possible character (skill 7, stamina 14, luck 7, magic 8). This fits well with Steve Jackson's statement in the rules that no matter how weak a player's initial dice rolls are, so long as he or she made the right choices, should be able to made it through the game with a bit of luck. *In many ways The Citadel of Chaos was similar to the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain with a similar goal and setting. However The Citadel of Chaos removed the key-collecting mechanism of the previous book and expanded the rules with the inclusion of a magic system. *Balthus Dire must be defeated by a long and strategic spell battle at the end of the book - this took Steve Jackson many hours to plan out. In fact Steve named Balthus Dire his favourite Fighting Fantasy character. Series 2 Additions *Pre-generated player characters: Elsevier Gringlewald, Tybalt Spellcaster and Elif Montaigne *10 paragraphs from Deathtrap Dungeon Errors *The illustration for (1) shows burning torches but the text states lanterns. *(55) leads to (10) and (249), but (10) also leads to (249). If you go from (249) to (231), the option to go back and take the other passage takes you to (243), which may be where (10) is supposed to lead to. Alternatively, the Citadel has two pantries. *In a minor continuity error, in (102) the Miks give you the Charmed Amulet, which you place around your neck. But when you show it to the Ganjees in (168) you remove it from your backpack. *In a minor error, (244) leads to (243). *(258) is an "orphan". Since it deals with the three small creatures in (64), it must follow this or (3). Either of these paragraphs is missing an option not to use an item from your backpack (most likely (3)). *The Wizard "Series 2" introduces an error in that the rules state you can only restore stamina with the stamina spell, yet the pre-generated characters each have 6 Provisions listed in their equipment. *The map in the Scholastic edition mis-spells Salamonis as "Salamons". Dedication Puffin Edition For Ken, Lilian and Vicki - pg.4 Wizard Edition For Ben and Jake May they - pg.4 Scholastic Edition none See Also *''The Tasks of Tantalon'' Reviews *Reviewed in White Dwarf 42 (June 1983), "Open Box" (pg.16-17) External Links *Character Sheet - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=12 Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series 1) at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=1285 Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series 2) at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=38 The Citadel of Chaos at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb2.htm The Citadel of Chaos at the Internet Archive record of the old] Fightingfantasy.com - Retrieved 2019-10-26 References Category:1983 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series 2 Category:Fighting Fantasy Scholastic Series